Rigoletto Review

Opera review: Engaging ‘Rigoletto’ another jewel in crown of Lyric Opera of the North

Written By: Sheryl Jensen, for the News Tribune | 
 
 
Throw together an angelic, flaxen-haired heroine, her hunchbacked jester father, a dastardly Duke, a sinister assassin and a reverberating curse, and you have the requirements for a Shakespearean-level tragedy.

These elements combine to give audiences an evening of soaring operatic and orchestral music and scintillating drama in the Lyric Opera of the North production of Giuseppi Verdi’s “Rigoletto,” with stage direction by Dorothy Danner.

It was a dark and stormy night outside the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Marshall Performing Arts Center, while inside, the 25-piece orchestra, under the ever lyrical baton of Conductor Dirk Meyer, brought to life Verdi’s dark and moody score.

Part villain and part victim, Rigoletto is one of the most complex characters in operatic literature. John Pierce powerfully evokes the character’s shades and nuances dramatically while plumbing the musical depths of one of the greatest baritone roles in the Italian repertory.

Unfortunately, opening night, Pierce suffered an injury just before intermission. The announcer relayed this information at the beginning of the second half saying, however, that Pierce had decided to soldier on, despite his injury.

He performed the last half of the opera with crutches, masterfully managing to alter his staging without missing a beat and singing with the same thrilling fervor he had before.

John Cudia, the only actor to have played both Jean Valjean in “Les Misérables” and the Phantom in “The Phantom of the Opera” on Broadway, is the amoral Duke of Mantua, at turns charming and despicable.

Cudia’s crystal clear tenor is showcased throughout, most particularly in one of the most identifiable tunes in all of opera, “La donna è mobile” (“Woman is Fickle”). He gives it all the jaunty style of a Venetian gondolier in the first go-round and a haunting eeriness in the climactic reprise.

As the Duke’s fated love interest and Rigoletto’s daughter Gilda, soprano Sarah Lawrence is in elegant control of her voice. In the rise and fall of her arias and the duets with Pierce, she effortlessly portrays the delirious highs of Gilda’s love at first sight and the lows of her devastation at being betrayed.

Jeffrey Madison (Monterone) has the dramatic and vocal gravitas to cast the echoing curse (“La maledizione!”) that sets the wheels of the complex plot in motion. Playing the assassin, Sparafucile, Andrew Gangestad has a shiver-creating bass voice that helps him create the nastiest of villains.

As the “gentleman of the court,” the men’s chorus creates some thrilling moments of their own with songs featuring powerful unison vocals and intricate harmonies.

Ann Gumpper’s set design hits all the right “notes,” from the splendor of the Duke’s elegant palace to the squalor of Sparafucile’s ramshackle inn.

Gumpper also shows her sly, satirical side with two painted “tapestries” evoking a certain, blond-haired political figure surrounded by sycophants, also featuring the recognizable form of a currently significant Russian leader whispering in his ear.

Ora Jewell-Busche’s elegant costume designs are another character unto themselves, featuring a panoply of rich colors and fabrics.

While not a light and fluffy, summer’s eve diversion, “Rigoletto” is a visceral and engaging evening, again establishing LOON as one of the gems of the Northland’s cultural landscape.